Village association meeting yields news

Friday

Mar 7, 2014 at 2:00 AM

Marstons Mills is a bustling place these days judging by the reports at the village association of various activities and projects under way.

Susan Vaughn

Susan Vaughn photo

TAKE THE PRIVATE ROADS – Marstons Mills Village Association Chairman Craig Larson made an argument at the association meeting for the town taking over all private roads, saying it wouldn’t change the status quo.

Cotuit arts center interested in former elementary school

Marstons Mills is a bustling place these days judging by the reports at the village association of various activities and projects under way. And they are not just about ham and chicken suppers, which were both successful bookends to the bleak month of February.

Treasurer Maureen McPhee reported the ham and bean supper on Feb. 1 raised $985 from tickets and donations and an extra $333 came from a raffle. Charlie Thifault reported that the Liberty Hall chicken potpie supper at the end of the month also was well attended.

Town Councilor Sara Cushing, who represents the village, reported progress on several projects affecting the Mills. Renovations on a new police substation next to the 7-Eleven store on Route 28 will begin soon with occupation expected by early summer, she said.

A request for proposals for the vacant Marstons Mills Elementary School is expected to go out in April as a result of strong interest in the building by Cotuit Center for the Arts. Cushing attended a walk-through of the former school with several other town officials and many Cotuit Center board members.

“I thought that was really great. There was such a show of support,” she said. The center would like to use the building for its classes and stage rehearsals.

Cushing also said the re-visioning plan for the village center is in the final phase and getting ready for a final review by the association in September (see her councilor column on this page for details.)

As a member of the reinstituted town council road subcommittee, Cushing reported on its efforts to find some solutions to private roads, of which there are a significant number in Marstons Mills.

The topic of private roads drew some strong comments from association president Craig Larson before the guest speaker, DPW Director Dan Santos, appeared.

“What if the town all in one day took all the private roads?” he asked rhetorically. “Nothing would change,” he said, because the town plows the roads now and maintains them enough to accommodate emergency vehicles. “It’s only a matter of budget and that’s not going away,” he said; however, he favors keeping the private road betterment program.

Cushing responded that the town doesn’t have the money to take care of all the private roads and others agreed that transferring them to the town would create a huge responsibility.

Santos addressed the private roads briefly in his department overview. He said his department can only do emergency work, such as repairing big potholes or dealing with public safety issues, such as flooding. He acknowledged that the private roads are in “horrible condition” and only getting worse. “I hope to get resources in the future,” he said.

Santos also reported on future public works projects in the village, including the Burgess House roof that the community preservation committee approved recently for funding and the village center redesign. He said state Chapter 90 funds are available for the redesign, and that it would be a priority.

The fish ladder that connects Marstons Mills River to Middle Pond also will be replaced at a price of $350,000 from the town’s capital improvement budget.

Santos said the winter was has been challenging for his limited department staff and snow removal has cost $2.2 million, well over the budgeted $600,000. However, he said, “Given the number of residents, the amount of complaints is miniscule.” He expects the department to be repairing potholes all spring.

Santos urged residents to report problems by calling his office, through the town website or with a free smart phone app, seeclick fix.

In other reports, Marstons Mills Librarian Renee Voorhees said the library will be interviewing eight of 12 candidates for her position, from which she is retiring in July.

After receiving some unsolicited political opinion posts on the village Facebook page, the association decided to block such posts and limit comments to those responding to its own posts.

The next village association meeting will be April 8 with Town Clerk Ann Quirk as guest speaker.

Three Bays Preservation will hold its annual herring count orientation March 8 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Liberty Hall on Main Street in Marstons Mills. Learn about the counting protocol and meet Brewster author Elliott Carr, who’ll share stories from his book, Herring Run: Life and Death at Stony Brook.